I haven’t seen much on Sways about “air boards” or springers, so I thought I would try to start some discussion.
The attached is my attempt at a stringerless EPS / epoxy board with focus on skate influenced surfing and airs in small junky on-shore surf. The board has a concave deck and an inlayed 1/8” balsa springer (I put this one on the bottom – my last board had similar on the deck - in the junk waves around here I can’t distinguish a difference in flex between the two). Dims are 5’-9” x 20 1/8” x 2 3/8” (at thickest point – 4” in from rail at center – board is 2” thick in the middle). The nose rocker is ~4 1/4” / tail 1 7/8”. Bottom is single concave going flat in the tail. Fins are set @ 3 1/8”, 10 7/8”. Rails are hard.
The ride: I’ve had it out 5 or 6 times. I’m 5-11 / 160lbs. I couldn’t get used to the fins, so I moved them forward a 1/16” (ProBox : ) ) and it started to clicked for me. The flat tail with lower tail rocker is super fast around flat sections. I skated for years before I ever surfed, so the concave deck feels very natural under my feet. Seems to make the board feel looser. I was worried about rail volume with a concave deck, but the rails tapper to thin enough that I am still able to fully burry the rail on a gouge. Very quick rail to rail down the line. I notice more upward drift when I pump down the line from the hard rails which seems to give more speed on the “down pump” – don’t think I would want to engage those rails on a heaving sucking pit, but that’s almost never an issue around here. Now the big one: yes, it boosts pretty frickin well!!
I would appreciate any feedback, and would love to see anyone else’s air / skate type boards or springer work!
Wow! If you look at my thread “Annual build- board #2” what you made is almost exactly what I have in mind, even the concave deck. And I’m the exact same weight and height as you. Are you sure you’re not me?
Mine will be a full compsand construction though. Also, I’m using glass ons (because I have them). Could you give me more fin placement numbers - toe and cant? Distance in from rail? I won’t be able to move them once they’re on. And maybe a pic of the concave deck. Nose and tail width?
How’s the wave catching ability? I’m 47 years old so that’s always an issue for me. Also, I’ve never boosted an air. Can an old dog learn new tricks?
That outline does look very similar! I look forward to following the thread.
Sorry for the delay - busy week!
Here are some #'s and a deck shot:
Fins - 1 1/8" in from the rail, pointed to 2" off of the nose (not sure what the toe-in measures exactly, but it is substantial since the board is only 5’-9"). They are ProBox fins, and I am using the black - 6 degree - cant inserts. I’ve been riding them at ~ 3 3/16 - 10 15/16 and it is working well for me. The deck concave is only about 3/16". I’ve never done one before, and didn’t know how it would go - I will probably go deeper with the next - maybe more like 3/8" - 1/2"
Nose 14 1/4", Tail 15 3/16", Squash was 4 3/8" before rounding.
Catches waves well, but not as well as some of my flatter rockered boards of similar dimension; however, that nose rocker has already saved me on a couple of air drops.
I’ve done a stringerless of very similar outline, but it is a domed (well almost flat!) deck, thick railed, thick tailed quad fin that I break out for summertime thigh - stomach high type waves (pic. - black centerline is just a glue line). Unfortunately not a good flex comparison since it is so corky and chunky. I would love to do the test, just need more time and $! At this point, my springer is just theory - I was going for stringer-esque without the stringer. I would argue that the springer is actually easier to do than a stringer (if you are cutting your own blanks).
Go to the hobby store balsa bin, pull out all of the 3" x 36" x 1/4" pieces of balsa they have, grab each one individually and flex, pick your favorite. Shape your board, seal it, then “shape” your springer. On this board, I traced the tail outline on the end of my piece of balsa and sanded the wood until I had the same profile – on the front end, I just penciled in a radius and sanded back to the line. When I’ve got the springer outline where I want it, I just tape the springer in place on the board and closely trace with a mechanical pencil (for this board I moved it up about 3/8" from the tail so that there is a small strip of “aesthetic” foam between the edge of the tail and the wood). Remove the springer and bring out the router. I use a long plastic “t-bar” type ruler to template my straight lines with the router. The curves on the end I carefully freehand, and then I “hog-out” the remaining material freehand. If all goes well, the springer will inlay perfectly into the board. I have then been gluing the springer in with gorilla or elmer’s ultimate – careful to place a thin enough coat on the springer so that it does not foam back up out of the cracks. Then just weight it down with some sand bags. When all is set, go back and fill any cracks, do any minor evening, and concave blending. Then I just glass as usual. May not be the best way of doing it, but the first board has taken some pretty good abuse, and it has held up well.
